The final steps: Live File System (UDF) format If you’ve been dragging files and folders into the window of a Live File Systemformatted disc, there are no more steps. You can eject the disc and put it to use. To eject the disc, right-click your burner’s icon; from the shortcut menu, choose Eject. Windows takes a moment to “close the session” and then ejects the disc. You can play this disc on Macs or PCs running Windows XP and later. Better yet, you can put this disc back into any XP-or-later PC and pick up right where you left off, adding and erasing files as though it’s a big flash drive.
Final Notes Here are a few final notes on burning CDs and DVDs at the desktop: •• Not sure what kinds of disks your PC can burn? Choose StartÆComputer. Study the name of the burner. There it is, plain as day: a list of the formats your machine can read and write (that is, burn). If you have a combo drive (can burn and play CDs, but can only play DVDs), for example, you’ll see something like “DVD/CDRW Drive.” If your burner can both play and record both CDs and DVDs, it will say “DVD-RW Drive.” •• To erase an RW type disc (rewritable, like CD-RW or DVD-RW), open your Computer window. Right-click the burner’s icon; from the shortcut menu, choose Format. Change the file-system format if you like, and then turn on Quick Format. Finally, click Start to erase the disc. Tip: Of course, you don’t have to erase the disc completely. You can always select and delete individual icons from it using the Delete key.
•• If you do a lot of disc burning, a full-fledged burning program like Nero adds myriad additional options. Only with a commercial CD-burning program can you burn MP3 music CDs, create mixed-mode CDs (containing both music and files), create Video CDs (low-quality video discs that play on DVD players), and so on.